After 10 years of retirement, I now realise what is wrong with the church and
why it is so hung up on sexuality and gender issues. Jesus' religion was one
of compassion, but from its earliest years the church has been infected by
patriarchal attitudes within society as a whole which go back to the Bronze
Age. These are characterised by a legalistic approach, the tendency to
identify and demonise outsiders who do not belong to the male club, whether
they be women or minorities, and to turn to violence and war as a means of
enforcing change. I don't blame St Paul, because he encouraged women leaders
in the church and I believe his writings have been tampered with by later
hands. We should be careful how we interpret the Old Testament because it goes
back to the warrior societies of the Bronze and Iron Ages throughout the Middle
East and beyond, and reveals the conflict between a priest-ridden tribal
religion and democratic universalism.
We have a big job to do in the church to refocus on compassion and
spirituality, and end all forms of discrimination. This must include a new
appreciation of the role of men in an enlightened world order, and how to
promote a religion which is gender neutral or androgynous, egalitarian and
compassionate.
Best wishes.
Raymond Garfoot.
-----Original Message-----
From: John Barnett <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: methmins@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Fri, 25 Jun 2021 9:00
Subject: [methmins] Re: The Runaway Train
I wasn't attempting to manufacture any kind of confection with my earlier
postings, nor did I have in mind ultra-conservatives whose minds will never be
changed or even move on the topic of same-sex marriage. I was more concerned
for the folk who make up the bulk of our congregations who in their lifetimes
have seen mainstream society do an about-face in its attitudes to
homosexuality, which, for the record, I wholeheartedly welcome. Things have
moved rapidly in recent years; we were just getting our heads round civil
partnerships when full marriage was made legally possible. Perhaps GILUU is the
best approach; I wouldn't want to argue with anything it says, and simply hope
that in the days to come it will be presented in as gentle a pastoral way to
those of our folk who are still struggling with it. Incidentally, I haven't
read The Runaway Train, although I haven't binned it yet. The title was enough
to indicate to me where it was coming from, and it's well down my list of
reading priorities. John Barnett
On 24 June 2021 at 19:30 Rob Weir <RobWeir@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Tom wrote:
GiLUU *is* the middle way – it allows those who in all good conscience hold
a conservative view to continue holding that view, it makes no requirement of
Church Councils to permit same-sex marriages to occur in property they are the
Managing Trustees of if they do not wish to, it explicitly acknowledges that we
are not of one mind on this matter.
Amen to that! We've been engaging in making some good old Methodist Fudge, not
necessarily a bad thing in my view, but to strain a Biblical metaphor well
beyond breaking point some are telling us that we need to now make fudge
without sugar. GILUU is about saying "all are welcome" - that it's possible to
disagree and yet remain in fellowship; and yet for all the compromises that
means, and I think Dignity and Worth have shown much grace on this issue, there
are others who felt that even the Derby Resolutions were dangerous backsliding
and will never accept anything less than "Not ever" on this issue. Instead, I
have seen them shout down and refuse to listen even to the likes of Paui Smith
when he suggests that it is indeed possible for people to earnestly study the
scriptures and come out with different answers... And yet GILUU doesn't say to
those opposed to Same-sex relationships "You are not welcome"; it says "how can
we remain in fellowship with one another". If the answer from some is "By you
changing your views and agreeing with us", then we can't go with that - we lose
people from the other end who have been waiting faithfully, in many cases for
years, for a sign that the church may be ready to fully welcome and affirm
them. In some ways, given how we have treated many of those who are LGBTQI+,
the amazing thing is that they are still here, part of our fellowship, at
all...
God Bless
Rob
--
Rev. Rob Weir Cheshire South Methodist Circuit St. Johns Whitchurch,
Tallarn Green and Brown Knowl Methodist Churches
